PK MED, a French biotech company established in 2019 by Truffle Capital, has secured €1.5 million in non-dilutive DeepTech financing from Bpifrance. This funding will drive the development of PKM-02, a cutting-edge cell-homing technology designed to improve bone marrow transplantation outcomes for conditions like leukemias and hemoglobinopathies.
Allogenic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT), commonly known as bone marrow transplantation, involves transferring stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient with impaired or depleted bone marrow. This procedure can be curative or life-extending for many hematologic disorders. Despite the over 25,000 HSCTs performed annually in the US and EU, the success of the treatment is limited by the low percentage of transplanted cells that successfully home to and engraft in the patient’s bone marrow, often ranging between 1-10%. Additionally, issues like donor matching and intensive conditioning regimens pose further challenges, leaving many patients in need of more effective solutions.
PK MED’s PKM-02 project addresses these challenges with an innovative therapeutic implant. This implant, injected locally into the patient’s bone marrow before HSCT, combines a drug-based technology with a biodegradable scaffold. The aim is to enhance the homing and engraftment of transplanted cells. Promising in vitro results have led PK MED to initiate preclinical studies, with potential plans to extend this technology to other tissue regeneration applications.
Gauthier Pouliquen, Ph.D., CEO of PK MED, stated, “The support from Bpifrance highlights PK MED’s technological innovation and commitment to advancing medical treatments. Our goal is to significantly improve bone marrow transplantation and cell regeneration techniques for patients with hematologic disorders.”
About PK MED
Founded in 2019 by Truffle Capital, PK MED is a French biotechnology firm specializing in injectable smart implants for drug delivery in rheumatology and cell homing for bone marrow transplantation. The company’s expertise in developing safer and more effective local therapies aims to address high medical needs in various conditions, starting with gout (PKM-01) and hematopoietic stem cell transplants (PKM-02).
